The White House on Thursday described Pakistan's co-operation for counterterrorism success in the region as "essential" and expected "continued" co-operation from the key South Asian country. President Obama's spokes-man Jay Carney said the US relationship with Pakistan is "complicated but very important."
"They, the Pakistanis, have been important allies in our fight against al Qaeda. And that fight continues and we expect to have continued co-operation with the Pakistanis on that," he said. He acknowledged there are disagreements between the two sides and that US discusses these openly and candidly with Pakistani officials.
"But, we certainly believe that the relationship is important and the kind of co-operation we get is essential to our national security and we need to continue it precisely so we can most effectively take the fight to al Qaeda and succeed in that region."
In answer to a question, he said, the US takes action against the enemies of the US, the members al Qaeda, where they are found as was the case with Osama bin Laden who happened to be in Pakistan. The spokesman said the United States is fighting the war in Afghanistan and the issue with Pakistan arises with the safe havens that the Haqqani group has in that country. "We raise that issue, we continue to have discussions on a regular basis in a broad range of areas where we have shared interest and co-operation."